Happy Mother’s Day to ALL of you doing all the mom things!

We just wrapped up a giveaway on our page where, in order to enter, you had to submit a Mom Hack - any tips or tricks you’ve picked up along the way that make life just a little bit easier! You guys! These are GOLD! We’re just going to leave them here for you to enjoy, giggle at, and perhaps use in your own life sometime soon. Thank you ALL so much for submitting your hacks!

Keeping Things Fun #MomHacks

Add water- squirt bottles, cleaning, bubbles, etc always turns things around!
Glow sticks in the bathtub- makes bath time fun!!
When all else fails, we make a trampoline out of our old couch and it keeps them busy and happy for an hour!

Food Prep #MomHacks

Cutting all the salad ingredients for the week on Sundays, leaving them separate, so the family can make personalized salads all week long.
Sheet Pan Pancakes. Saves time
It’s silly but I learned to flip my peppers over and cut them in thirds and they come apart super easy. The seeds are also contained better!
Mom to 8 kids and my best mom hack would have to be grocery shopping 1:1 with a kid. This gives me much needed 1:1 time, which is hard to come by in our home.
When the kids were little and were eating their first bread in cubes, I would put something like a spread on the still frozen slice of bread and then cut it into cubes. It’s way less messy that way. I also slice/dice meat when it’s still partially frozen.
I fill small bottles of milk the night before and leave on a lower shelf for my kids to have cereal in the morning so they don’t have to get stools or anything to get to the milk or wake me up. Sleep in a little extra in the morning. Ha ha!
When the kids are fighting having veggies, I always add a few of the nacho chip strips to salads but can put on different veggies if they wanted, and it works every time.
I make a whole package of bacon on Sunday and add some to sandwiches, meals and salads all week long so I don’t have to make it 5 times.
My child does not eat vegetables. So I puree vegetables and hide them in pancakes.
Use baking cups to catch popsicle drips.
Make the sandwiches for school lunches all at once and put them in the freezer and pull out as needed.
Single parent..make "apple nachos" a fancy treat. Apples sliced fancy, drizzled with peanut butter and sprinkled with granola
Overnight oats and cutting up veggies for healthy/easy snacks!
Healthy Snacks in turntable storage for easy access in the fridge (pre cut vegetables and fruit).
Decide once and for all what our "don't want to think about dinner meal" is. For us, it's spaghetti
My favorite mom hack is ordering Supper Studio. My second is keeping very, very, very low expectations!
Prep veggies, grains and meat on Sunday to make an easy dinner and have extra time with kids.
Bento lunch boxes. No wrapping, trying to find containers to to fit in lunch kits.... compartment lunch boxes and packing the night before are a life saver here and help avoid the morning stress of trying to get out of the house!
Making lunches for kids the night before
Kitchen scissors are my best mom hack. So annoying to cut food like spaghetti, meats, veggies into bite size pieces but with scissors snip it all up super fast and easy!
When feeding baby/toddler, any extra fruit not eaten goes into a freezer bag for smoothies.
My kids love pancakes and French toast so I always make extra on Sunday morning so we can save some for the rest of the week! Super easy breakfast on the go! My kids love eating them just plain and right out of the bag.
My mother hack is when you're making a big meal like chicken cordon bleu or spaghetti or any large meal you make double you're already making it might as well make on to freeze and eat one.
Use Supper Studio for meal prep.
Base recipe for meal prep. I make a pan of meat sauce to start with. This can then be used for spaghetti, lasagne. I then take a portion of it and add beans, corn, spices and turn into chilli.
Talking about what foods help our bodies gets them more interested in what their eating and will eat more and a better variety. (Ie. green foods help us fight bad germs).
I'm a working mom, and with the pandemic am having to work from home. When my littles get home at 4:30 from their day at dayhome they're tired & cranky. So my hack in order to keep up their energy until supper is to pre-make small veggie/fruit smoothies.
I use my slow cooker and Instapot A LOT. I love a meal that I can just throw in a pot and forget about until we’re ready to eat. And if I forget to take meat out of the freezer, I just throw it in the Instapot as it’ll cook from frozen.
While making dinner I cook a second meal so I don’t have to cook the next day. Also when doing kids laundry I don’t turn their clothes right side out. They will do it when they get dressed. Saves so much time.
Have a fridge drawer the kids can reach full of many different snacks so they aren’t always asking you.
When freezing bread offset each slice so they pull apart more easily!
When kids are enjoying a popsicle, poke the popsicle stick through a muffin cup liner to catch drips!
Planning out meals on menu board (and having 1-2 Supper Studio meals per week!). Saves so much time during the week and I know what I need to defrost
Make those pesky school lunches right after dinner, that way your morning will be less rushed!
When my son was younger and getting him started on vegetables I would put grated cheese or parm cheese on everything to camouflage. Then as he got older I would put less and less till now there is none.
The best Mom Hack I found is to let the kids to things by themselves especially when they ask me to help cook or clean even though I know it will be a mess! That's how they learn and become confident and someday you will get so much help! :)
One large peeled carrot for before dinner hunger. Get those veggies in!
Sneak spinach into “green muffins” to help your toddler get some veggies everyday
Plan meals for the following week, write ingredients needed on grocery list, shop once per week.
Have the meal schedule posted on the fridge so I don’t have to think about what to make and if I’m out of the house, someone else can whip up what I had planned.
When I make my sons lunch for kindergarten, I also make the other two kids lunches at the same time even though they are home with me. Frees up my time that day and my daughter feels like she is getting a packed lunch when she is able to just grab it out
Buy precut frozen onions, because life is way to short to cry over onions.
I used to tell my kids peppers made them jump higher.
My toddler and I make a large 12 serving veggie egg white fritatta so that We are set each morning with a healthy, quick breakfast. This makes breakfast quicker gives us more time to enjoy breakfast together and play!
Meal planning and prepping on the weekend.
Have baggies of cut veggies ready for snacking, especially during study sessions and homework. Chewing helps your brain work better!
Supper Studio meals!

Crafty #MomHacks

I put all of my paints in old jam jars, labeling with the colour and location, get kiddy artist brushes and it’s fast and easy touch ups.
Craft bucket filled with miscellaneous things. The kids can help themselves when they are bored and make anything they like. Has ribbon, stickers, glue tape, scissors, paper, pipe cleaners, Pom poms etc.
Using fabric glue to attach patches to pants with holes in the knees instead of sewing them on. Saves time and is quick and easy. I like to cut my patches into fun shapes when patching knee holes too (hearts, stars, etc).

Getting Dressed & Ready #MomHacks

During winter, put your kids mittens/gloves on before their jacket. Creates a better seal and the snow can’t get in!
Sock basket! All clean socks go in the basket, kids grab two in the morning. No sorting, no matching. 5 kids is too many socks to match!
When packing the diaper bag for the day pack a wet facecloth in a container for use while you’re out
I keep my makeup in travel bag. When we are headed to the zoo, the mountains, anywhere I do my makeup in the car! It makes getting out the door so much easier when all I have to do is get dressed and do my hair.
Just let go. Less stress. I use to care so much about what my kids would wear to school or other outings but it was turned out to be too stressful. Now I just let them wear what they want unless it is for family photos.
I always prep for the morning the night before! Get the coffee ready to brew, get any breakfast prep done that I can, so that the morning starts more relaxed and calm!
Buckle kids into the car/car seats (with music or books) and then finish getting all your things ready to go!
Mornings in our home are hectic so to make them smoother, we pick out everything the night before, the kids pick their outfits for the next day, down to their under wear and socks and set them out. This way there are no battles in the morning on what my 3
At bedtime, get your kids to lay out their outfit for school the next day...as if it were a flat person that they have to crawl into , instead of calling it “Flat Stanley” call it Flat (then their name) trust me. Your mornings will go much smoother!
Give my toddler 1 to 3 choices... for clothes to wear, activities to do or food to eat. This reduces the amount of time consuming emotional outbursts as he feels like he has a say in his routine for the day.
Honestly.....it is nothing too crazy. I prep my coffee, an activity for my daughter, and at least 3 bottles for my baby before I go to bed. I'm on my own with my toddler and baby quite often, so the more I can do the night before, the easier my day is!
Letting my 5yo sleep in the (comfy) clothes they want to wear the next day.
Leaving a small gravy boat of milk in the fridge, and saran-wrapped bowls of cereal on the table, so the kids can make their own breakfast in the morning, buying me a nice sleep-in hour on weekends!

Getting Chores Done #MomHacks

I buy laundry strips instead of liquid or powder. Makes it super easy for the four year old to do her own laundry! Also buy Elmo and yeti dryer balls so she likes to throw it all in the dryer too. Now to teach her to put it all away!
Give your little one a vacuum attachment while you’re vacuuming so they feel like they’re helping while you are able to get it done
Turn clean up time into a competition between your kids, or between kids and parents. Clean up never happened so fast!

Minimize the Clutter #MomHack

My favourite one is this... having four kids bringing home artwork can get overwhelming. Who has room to keep all of this stuff? So I take pictures of every piece of artwork and each year create a little photo album with images of their work!

Taking Care of Yourself #MomHack

Take even 20 min for myself to exercise
Do my own exercise, dog walk, cycle, before 9am so I can help more with the grandkids due to covid restrictions
Help from friends and family. Never be too round. Share the work load.
Tell the kids my snacks are too spicy‚ so I don’t have to share. This could be anything! (ie new chocolate or sweets)

Baby #MomHacks

Baby in a square laundry hamper in the bathtub - it’s like a third hand, contains the baby and his toys, and safe away from his big sister’s flailing limbs.
Use a laundry basket in the bath tub for the babies who are just new at sitting! Toys won’t float away, accidents are easy to clean and putting a towel in there helps the slippery bottom!
Layering fitted sheets in the cribs/bassinets for quick nighttime spit up cleans!!
Using extra breastmilk or formula to replace milk in muffins/ pancakes in babies first foods for extra nutrients!
#momhack for leaks in the night with babies and toddlers I always double up the mattress protectors and sheets so that you’re not stumbling around in the middle of the night to change sheets.
I use IKEA storage bins for the baby and toddler clothes. This allows me to fold and put away even while they are sleeping in their rooms. It’s also a huge help for me to SEE everything they have in their current sizes.
Pool noodle around wagon bars so they don’t hit their heads.
Freezing breastmilk ton use in silicone feeders for those early on bad teething days!
So many Mom hacks come to mind when I think about this question. I learned when my kids were still babies that you can never own too many waterproof mattress covers - I layer them like lasagna, a protector, a sheet, another protector, another sheet and so on.

Potty Training #MomHacks

When potty training put a pull-up over the undies. If there’s an accident kid still feels the wetness but no car seat clean up!

Cleaning #MomHacks

My best mom hack is.. washing my towels in hot water and vinegar to get them fluffy again and get all he built-up laundry soap out of them
Thieves cleaner- I use it for EVERYTHING!!!! Windows, counters, floors, bather rooms etc.
My mom hack is when I’m washing the windows & mirrors in my house I use water only with a micro fibre cloth only and turn out prefect every time !
Downy Unstoppables in the base of the diaper genie! Saves so much cleaning and changing out bags!
Put on fun music for clean up time
Take the time to do the dishes at night so you wake up to a clean kitchen in the morning.
Baby wipes everywhere, you can use those little squares to clean anything!

Travelling #MomHacks

When packing, bundle clothes up together and roll to save room
Audiobooks!! We listen to audiobooks all the time. We started on long road trips to brake up screen time in the car, now we listen on all lengths of trips, making supper together, in the evening before bed, building Lego. Audiobooks helped my kids learn
When traveling, pack full outfits in a ziplock bag. It keeps everything tidy, plus makes getting a dressed in the morning a breeze.
We have a DVD player in the van that "Only works on the highway", it is very helpful for "mommmmm, can we watch...." except when we actually want it to work!

Misc. #MomHacks

Hang bibs on the back of a high chair with a command hook. Makes it quick and easy to grab, and you won't forget to put one on.
Use a hot knife to cut plastic sandwich bags into snack size! Also.... survive. That’s what motherhood is sometimes about, and that’s okay!
Mix 1 part fabric softener with 2 parts water. To Detangle doll hair
Have patience
Made a can of fairy spray to help with monsters before bed. Just a can of room air freshener that we label with pretty stickers and the kids each get to spray a little before they crawl into bed.
Not having a plan, but sticking to a routine for meals and naps! Kiddos thrive on routine but schedules make me feel stifled!
My mom hack is always to be there for the kids in anyway they need me to be.To love them unconditionally and most of all to be their friend.
Make a mini marshmallow ice pack. It’s inevitable that your little one will at some point need an ice pack. This is where a marshmallow ice pack comes in handy!
Use a makeup brush or sponge to apply sunscreen to kiddos face.
Clothes don't get folded - they're either hung up in the closet, or laid in the drawer. Means putting away laundry goes by much faster, even the toddler can help sort and put away things, and you don't have to worry about messing up the already folded stuff.
Use two different kinds of fun reuseable snack bags for school, one for their clean masks and the other for their dirty masks
Always have a snack in your pocket.
Lint roller to pickup glitter!
Roll up and tie into a knot for plastic grocery bag containment and store in small box for easy access and re use again.
If I have an early morning shift and I need to wake my kids up for school, I go into my Sonos app and select the speakers in the boys rooms and play music very loudly to make sure they get up lol.
Put marshmallows in a baggie, and leave them in the freezer for kids bumps and bruises. They don't stick together or leak, and you can reuse it again and again!
Use a colour coded calendar to stay organized
Use bread bag clips to fix flip flops that have pulled through. Cut sticker in half and put on back of shoe to show which way they go together.
Teach your kids to do things for themselves at a young age - I’m always amazed at how they rise to the occasion and do things I didn’t think they’d be able to!
I know we all run into this with kids!Use oil to remove stuck on bandaids and temporary tattoos and stickers from skin.
I write things I am grateful for every morning. I think of everything around me and of the previous day. It definitely puts things in perspective and it helps me to be more present.
I was a SAHM for years and my husband worked away, which meant I didn’t have a lot of time for myself or extra time to get stuff done at home. When my husband was home we created a daddy/daughter date day.